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My Buddy has purchased a 2000, 63,000 mile - 328Ci engine & 5 speed tranny. Car had been in an accident, but engine/trans. is fine.

Went to RealOEM and ran the vin & carfax also... alls ok, kinda.

RealOEM states engine is a M52 according to the vin number, in an E46 body, with a build date of 9/99. We did some research and it appears all 54 series engines had dual vanos installed, as did the 52 TU engines. This is a single vanos. Conclusion: must be a M52 engine.

Shipper delivered engine and a few days later we started to take her apart. First thing I noticed were the inverted "D" intake ports, then the square exhaust ports

Question is... is this a 52 block, with possibly a 54 head on it, including intake & exhaust components? Intake is drive by wire. I always thought that the 54 series engines had different bore ctrs. and were about 3/4" longer. Very few parts interchange.

Problem is, he has a 52 in his car and now that we've started parts removal, seller won't take it back. This I can understand.

The 328 motor is a M52 TU (dual vanos) with a throttle cable. The 323 and 328 are pretty much identical except that the 323 is a 2.5l and the 328 is a 2.8l. The 325 and 330 are M54 which have dual vanos and drive by wire. Something just doesn't sound right. Maybe take some pics and post them.

The 328 motor is a M52 TU (dual vanos) with a throttle cable. The 323 and 328 are pretty much identical except that the 323 is a 2.5l and the 328 is a 2.8l. The 325 and 330 are M54 which have dual vanos and drive by wire. Something just doesn't sound right. Maybe take some pics and post them.